Monday, December 28, 2009

Denial & Delusion Over Oldham Echo Arena

This is the time of year when the post-Christmas topor sets in, Grosvenor-pool reveals its true state of desperation at unsold stock, the sales notwithstanding, & slow news days predominate in the media. But, hey, don't let that deter the Oldham Echo; taking as its cue the amount of hogwash that's spoken at this time about New Year resolutions, the Echo decides to augment the mountainous edifice of bilge, self-congratulation & self-delusion (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/12/28/liverpool-s-echo-arena-celebrates-another-fantastic-year-of-events-100252-25477840/ ).Gary Stewart really must have drawn the short straw at the Christmas party to find himself penning this turkey. It opens disingenuously:"Two years on, we reflect on the stunning success story of the ECHO arena".Yes, you read that correctly, he did write the words "stunning success story".Warming to his themes of self-delusion & parallel universes, Stewart describes the last 12 months as "another fantastic year to celebrate."Ah yes, the memories come flooding back, just as the booze often threatened to flood the arena itself with predictable regularity.However, let's not interrupt the, erm, flow of Stewart's novel contention that the arena is synonymous with successful events. Do continue, Gary:"July was its most musical month this year with 18 gigs, including the legendary Leonard Cohen, Jools Holland and the Pet Shop Boys."Bob Prattey, chief executive of the arena, said: '2008 was an incredible opening year and in 2009 we raised the bar even higher...." 'Our aim is to make sure Liverpool is the best host city for any event or concert and people come back in the future.' "Stewart glosses over the scenes of drunken punch-ups that disfigured the Leonard Cohen concert. He also, of course, makes no mention of the Morrissey debacle at the venue. Additionally, if Prattey thinks that such antics "raised the bar" in 2009, I can only surmise that it wasn't raised high enough to deter at least some of the drunken idiots who have made 2009 such a "stunning success story" for the venue. Dealing with a persistent public order problem by indulging in self-delusion & denial will ensure that increasing numbers of people do not "come back in the future."

About Me

It's difficult for me to pigeon-hole myself. Anyone involved in marketing or demographics would find that I've slipped through the net. I'm a maverick. I remain a philosophical marxist (note the adjective), although I'm the first to say that capitalism won that titanic war when the Berlin Wall came down. I have a very low threshold for bullshit, can be sarcastic & generally assume the worst in people (that way, anything else is a bonus).